People aged 25 to 45 are playing lots of games that don’t make sense at all. This might seem strange considering how instant gratification is everywhere, and game graphics are incredibly good, and how many different games are out there. There is still a lot of demand for playing games that were originally released on cartridges — a type of game where the cartridge had less power than a toaster has today.
Japanese style role-playing games (J-RPGs) are turn-based, text-heavy, use a lot of menu options to provide players with information, and are deliberately allotted a lot of time to complete. By most measures of success used in the entertainment world, these types of games should have been eliminated long ago. They are slow; they are out of sync with today’s fast-paced society; they value seeing a story unfold more than they do value what you see on the screen; and they have much lower sales than you would expect. And yet, the sales and engagement numbers continue to be high and consistent, surprising the gaming industry.
The simple explanation for this trend is that adults who played J-RPGs as children in the 1990s and early 2000s are now in their 30s and 40s; they have money to spend on games, and they have developed an appreciation for the work that goes into developing these games. They are not trying to relive the past; they are coming back to a type of entertainment that they feel respects and values their intelligence, and has rewarded them for their time and effort, and does not take advantage of them in order to generate revenue from advertising.
The Nintendo Switch helped to convert the latent demand for this genre into real demand by addressing one of the major issues that face this genre. As of this writing, adult players can now enjoy the same level of time commitment that they could previously only find in front of a TV. The times available to play are during commutes, lunch breaks, or after small children have gone to bed. The advent of the Nintendo Switch and its ability to create an environment for adult life has made it possible to fulfill the fantasy of playing JRPGs in an era when job, family, and less than forty-five minutes of discretionary time are the norm.
Digital entertainment has responded to the marketplace’s desire for meaningful engagement, as evidenced by platforms like Kingbet89 gaming. The creation of these platforms has demonstrated that there are many more ways for audiences to find meaning through engagement-driven activities beyond traditional gaming. The markets that use the progression/reward model established within the JRPG genre at its inception are much larger than initially believed, and the desire to have experiences that adhere to the principle of respecting adult players’ time while allowing such adult players to earn rewards for their engagement with both the genre and the platform on which it is delivered continues to grow.
Another drawing point for mature gamers is that JRPGs emphasize strategic thought over speed of reaction. There is no penalty for times when an adult player’s reaction time is slower than when they were younger through turn-based games. Furthermore, during menu-driven games, players are rewarded for their ability to think, plan, and rely on information collected by them rather than their ability to manipulate their hands quickly enough to win a game. The slower pace of play provided by JRPGs has allowed many adult gamers to enjoy a quality gaming experience, while still managing their body and their obligations as they wait for their physical limitations to catch up with them as they continue to work and have a family.
Finally, new players often will be surprised at the amount of emotional depth that is displayed in very small signs in the anime artwork used in the games. While JRPGs may be brightly illustrated, the themes addressed in many of the best JRPGs include loss, sacrifice, identity, moral ambiguity, and the compromises of being an adult who has to work and provide for a family, all with the level of sophistication seen in classic literature. The duration of the games allows for character development that is not achievable in a shorter time frame in other media, which creates an emotional connection with the player long after the game has been completed and the console is turned off.
The social aspect of JRPGs has also changed as a result of the growth of the market of adult gamers. There are now many online communities of adult JRPG gamers. These communities are very much like book clubs rather than traditional gaming forums. When adult gamers discuss JRPGs, they focus on the narrative, the themes, and the emotions experienced by themselves and others, rather than who is a better player. Adult gamers value the intellectual engagement provided by these communities as well as the connection to others based on shared experience, which will be missing from commercial social media sites used by most adults today.
The comfort factor is not often discussed in the gaming press but is very important to the adult gamer community today. Playing JRPGs does not require long hours of constant physical activity as a competitive gamer would need to exert. It is reasonable to play a JRPG while drinking a cup of tea, taking breaks between turns to think and/or stretch. Adult gamers suffer from many types of physical limitations, but the deep amusement experienced in playing JRPGs creates a comfort level while gaining amusement that the adult gamer rarely or never has with competitive gamers.
There is a social aspect to the adult demographic as well that has both developed with the demographic shift and added depth to the experience of playing a video game beyond that of simply playing a video game. Adult JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) players form online communities that are more similar to book clubs than old-fashioned gaming forums. Discussion within these communities revolves around narrative interpretation, theme analysis, and personal resonance with a games’ narrative, rather than competition and the comparison of achievements between players. These communities provide both an outlet for intellectual engagement and an opportunity for genuine social interaction based on shared cultural experiences — something that many adults lack when using mainstream forms of social media.
In my opinion, an additional factor that impacts this adult demographic is the large amount of physical comfort afforded by JRPGs, which is a subject often overlooked in video game journalism. Unlike other gaming genres, such as online shooters or fighting games, the player of a JRPG does not have to exert himself physically for an extended period during play. You can sit in a chair with a cup of tea by your side (and you can enjoy your tea whilst playing), take your time between turns, stretch your legs periodically, as well as look out the window if you’re playing in a well-lit area. For adults who deal with repetitively strained muscles, tired eyes, or a simple need to relax without tension, JRPGs provide an increasingly rare opportunity for very enjoyable entertainment that can comfortably last for extended periods of time.
